Carolina Perez Sanz

When you don’t feel the need to prove, you learn with an open mind and heart. I’ve experienced this today.

While I’m figuring out what I do next, I’ve taken a retail job demonstrating coffee machines at a department store. The coffee is delicious and the machines are slick.

Today, I received the visit of the Regional Sales Manager, who wanted to find “areas of opportunity” in my Point of Sale. I have to admit, all areas in my POS were “areas of opportunity.”

She taught me how to reorganize my supplies, and how she wanted the display area to look like.

I listened with attention and intention.

Then, she asked me to demonstrate the machine for her, as though she were a client.

And here’s the magic. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel judged or scrutinized. She was assessing me, and I received it as a gift.

When she asked me questions I didn’t know how to respond, I said, “I don’t know,” feeling zero insecurity.

No internal shaking, mental stuttering, or the familiar heat wave rushing to my face.

I didn’t give any excuses or justifications as to why I didn’t have those answers.

She then taught me how to do the demonstration so it would lead to a sale and again, I listened with attention and intention.

My heart was calm and open. I absorbed her words with a clean frame of mind.

I didn’t feel more than or less than her.

In the past, my internal response would have been either:

• “who does this chick think she’s talking to? Doesn’t she know I have a PhD and I used to make six figures, blah blah?”

or

• “OMG, I’m going to be fired! Who did I think I was and where did I think I was going? I can’t do this job!”

But today, nothing like that at all.

Having kicked the need to prove for good, I just took her feedback and critique as a gift: she was giving me the opportunity to improve.

And I made two sales!

What area is the need to prove holding you back on?

Love,

Carolina